The Green Sheet Online Edition

December 28, 2009 • Issue 09:12:02

Industry Update

NEWS

HPS: One action dismissed, one settlement reached

On Dec. 7, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted Heartland Payment Systems Inc.'s motion to dismiss with prejudice a consolidated shareholder class action. The lawsuit, "In Re Heartland Payment Systems Inc. Securities Litigation," was filed against HPS, Robert O. Carr, HPS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and H.B. Baldwin Jr., HPS President and Chief Financial Officer, in the wake of the data security breach reported by HPS in January 2009.

Also, HPS reached a settlement agreement with American Express Co. related to said breach of the HPS network. Under the agreement, HPS will pay AmEx $3.6 million to resolve all intrusion-related issues between the two companies. This settlement is the first agreement related to the breach that HPS has reached with a card brand.

The Payments Processing Information Sharing Council elected its steering committee for the 2010 to 2011 term. Robert O. Carr, Chairman and CEO of HPS, will serve as the PPISC's Committee Chair. Rick Van Luvender, Director of InfoSec Incident Response at First Data Corp., was elected as Vice Chair.

Members at large include Terry Dooley, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at ITS Inc.; Chris Kenyon, Executive Vice President of Systems and Technology and CIO at Elavon Inc.; John Kirkpatrick, Senior Vice President and CIO at Trans First Holdings Inc.; John Latimer, Group Executive and Enterprise Risk Executive at Total System Services Inc.; and Tom Tesmer, Chief Technology Officer at Pipeline Data Inc.

Canada releases bankcard Code of Conduct

Jim Flaherty, Department of Finance Canada's Minister of Finance, released a proposed code of conduct for the credit and debit card industry in Canada. "This proposed code is intended to promote fair business practices and ensure merchants and consumers clearly understand the costs and benefits of credit and debit cards," Minister Flaherty said.

Responding to the issues brought forth by merchant and consumer associations nationwide, the code would:

Ensure merchants are privy to all costs associated with accepting credit and debit card payments

GlobalPlatform, the international specification body for smart card infrastructure, will distribute test suites to its members that will allow them to test card-manufacturers' compliance with Card Specification v2.2 market configurations. Once members obtain the suites, they can develop testing tools for the industry at large. Global Platform also launched GlobalPlatform Card Networked Framework v1.0. The document is available for download at www.globalplatform.org/specificationscard.asp.

IDC prognosticates for 2010

IDC's IDC Insights' Predictions 2010, a series of complimentary Web conferences, begins Jan. 11, 2009. The series will cover the energy, financial services, government, health, manufacturing and retail sectors. The one-hour webinars will explore dynamic issues and trends in these industries.

The Merchant Risk Council released the names of the keynote speakers for its 2010 Annual e-Commerce Payments and Risk Conference in Las Vegas in March. Wayne Best, Chief Economist from Visa Inc., will present the opening address. Robert O. Carr, CEO of HPS, and Bill Kurtis, investigative reporter and television personality, will deliver the closing speeches.

Payments industry job board launched

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based MS Technology Partners LLC launched Cardgigs, a payments industry online job board, in November 2009. The job board, designed and developed by payments industry veterans, is on the Web at http://www.cardgigs.com.

Continental Credit Systems LLC, doing business as Spectra Payments, launched an ISO incentive program that will pay a $10,000 bonus to the first 10 ISOs who submit a minimum of 25 new qualifying accounts. To qualify for the bonus, accounts must be installed and maintain a minimum transaction volume of $15,000 per month within 90 days of the first account submission.

Obopay, a Technology Pioneer 2010

The nonprofit World Economic Forum awarded the Technology Pioneer 2010 award to mobile payment provider Obopay Inc. Twenty-six companies from locations around the globe received this award. Further, Obopay is one of 11 companies in the Information Technologies, Telecommunications and New Media category and the only recipient from the financial services industry.

PARTNERSHIPS

Tempo powers Arthritis Foundation debit

The Arthritis Foundation chose Tempo Payments Inc. to power its debit card. When cardholders use the debit card, the foundation receives a portion of the card transaction fees. "Affinity debit cards represent a new fund-raising option for nonprofit organizations," said Tempo CEO Mike Grossman.

Charge Anywhere LLC released its mobile payment application for Research In Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry Storm2 mobile phones. The mobile card payment solution can be purchased through BlackBerry App World and from Charge Anywhere's Web site at www.chargeanywheredirect.com. Adding a Bluetooth printer with integrated card reader enables merchants to process at the lower card present rate.

ebpSource teams with ClairMail

ClairMail Inc., a mobile banking and payment solution provider, entered into a distribution partnership with ebpSource Ltd. "Exploitation of the mobile payments channel is a strategic imperative for ebpSource clients, and we believe this collaboration with ClairMail will add a significant complementary solution to our existing e-billing and e-invoicing customers," said Steve Wright, Commercial and Marketing Director at ebpSource.

MasterCard Canada, teaming with BMO Bank of Montreal and RIM, made its MasterCard PayPass Tap & Go technology available for Blackberry smart phones. The four-month Canadian contactless trial has 8,500 participating merchant locations.

Moneris adds WAY Systems' wireless terminal

Payment processor, Moneris Solutions Inc. now includes WAY Systems Inc.'s MTT1581 wireless terminal in its merchant product line. "It's perfect for merchants who accept credit or debit cards in a remote environment, such as movers, deliverymen or retail and food-service kiosk operators," said Greg Cohen, President of Moneris.

The scanner can scan multiple paper checks into QuickBooks, simultaneously sending the digital checks for electronic deposit. Intuit Check Solution captures the same data, recording it into the accounts receivable module within QuickBooks' accounting program.

TNB to process for Resource One

Resource One Credit Union of Dallas selected TNB Card Services for its payment processing needs. Resource One sold its card portfolio five years ago.

It will transfer its PIN and signature debit card processing to TNB and re-enter the credit card market with TNB.

Veracity teams with American Savings of Hawaii

Atlanta-based Veracity Payment Solutions agreed to purchase American Savings Bank's merchant acquiring portfolio and signed a multiyear marketing agreement to extend its services to the bank's commercial portfolio. ASB comprises 61 branches, all in Hawaii.

YESpay powers Jersey Post kiosks

YESpay powers Fujitsu self-service kiosks at Jersey Post, the Channel Isle of Jersey's national postal operator. The Jersey Post had used bank-owned payment terminals for customers who had weighed their own packages. Now customers can weigh, stamp and pay for packages through Fujitsu kiosks.

Solveras Payment Solutions completed its acquisition of the merchant portfolio of an unnamed seller "within three weeks of the initial dialog with the seller," said John Cramp, Chief Executive of Solveras, who also welcomed its new merchants. In addition to more merchant portfolios, the company seeks enterprise and product-line acquisitions to increase cross-selling opportunities and overall growth.

NCR gains more DVD kiosks

NCR Corp. expanded its DVD rental kiosk network with the acquisition of Campbell, Calif.-based DVDPlay, which comprises 1,300 kiosks in the United States and Canada and is expected to bring its total number of kiosks to 3,800 by the end of 2009. The company plans to convert the DVDPlay-branded kiosks to its Blockbuster Express brand.

APPOINTMENTS

IPC names Carter President

International Payments Corp. named Ron Carter as its new President. Carter will be tasked with accelerating IPC's $150 million strategic acquisition plan, which will include ISOs and merchant portfolios. "Mr. Carter brings a very powerful combination of hands-on operations knowledge and acquisition experience to our company," said David McMackin, CEO, Chairman of the Board and former President of IPC.

Charge Anywhere taps Edwards

Charge Anywhere LLC welcomed Doug Edwards to the position of Senior Sales Director, charging him with leading the company's ISO, processor and ISV sales channels in the southeastern United States. Edwards has 20 years' payments experience, most recently with a prepaid card enterprise.

Payvision, a card-not-present payment solution provider, hired Jim Mouzakiotis as its Director of Sales, Midwest Region, and Joe Rodriguez as Director of Sales for the East Coast Region.

"Their extensive experience and knowledge of our industry will surely translate to both qualitative support and increased sales for our resellers and merchants," said Rudolf Booker, CEO of Payvision.

CrossCheck adds Nern

Check approval and guarantee company CrossCheck Inc. hired Matt Nern as Vice President of Sales, Texas. Nern will direct the development and expansion of the Texas TeleSales and Field Sales divisions, hiring and training for the departments.

He will also be involved in landing major accounts. Nern comes to CrossCheck from his post as President and Chief Operations Officer for US Merchant Systems.

MasterCard taps Stanton

MasterCard Worldwide appointed Kevin Stanton as President of MasterCard Advisors, its professional services arm, effective Jan. 1, 2010. Stanton is President of MasterCard's Canada region.

inContact appoints CSO

On-demand contact center software and agent optimization tool provider inContact Inc. awarded a second title with expanded responsibilities to Scott Welch. He will serve as Chief Security Officer in addition to his current role as COO. The company also received PCI DSS certification.

BOTTOM LINES

MyBuys' E-commerce Wellness Index reported that total e-commerce revenue rose 4.4 percent in November 2009, as measured year over year. Total revenue from promoted items in November rose by 120 percent compared to November 2008.